The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Ipomoea, botanically known as Ipomoea batatas, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Kyuikukan 4’.
The new Ipomoea is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventors in Miyazaki, Japan. The objective of the breeding program is to create new compact Ipomoea cultivars with attractive foliage shape and coloration.
The new cultivar originated from an open-pollination made by the Inventors in September, 2000 of a proprietary selection of Ipomoea batatas identified as code number KOP98211-2, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unknown selection of Ipomoea batatas as the male, or pollen, parent. The cultivar Kyuikukan 4 was discovered and selected by the Inventors as a single plant within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled environment in Miyazaki, Japan.
Asexual reproduction of the new Ipomoea by terminal cuttings in a controlled environment in Miyazaki, Japan since December, 2005, has shown that the unique features of this new Ipomoea are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.